1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of illuminated ornaments and, specifically to hollow ornaments provided with various sets of lights one set being concealed to illuminate the ornament internally and another set exposed so as to be visible externally of the ornament.
It is well known to provide seasonal decorations for the home or the automobile. Particularly during the Christmas season or Halloween period, it is common to decorate homes and cars with ornaments which comprise simulated wreaths, candles, Christmas trees and jack-o-lanterns. It is common to illuminate these ornaments by means of external floodlights or illumination means mounted directly on or in the ornament itself. Often these ornaments are substantially two dimensional so as to adapt them to being mounted on a window for viewing from the side of the window opposite to the side on which the ornament is mounted. By xe2x80x9csubstantially two dimensionalxe2x80x9d it is intended to indicate that such ornaments have little depth, no more than 2 or 3 inches so as to lie fairly flat against the window. One of the goals in the design of such ornaments is to illuminate them in a way that gives the ornament a realistic, three dimensional appearance.
This objective is difficult to achieve with ornaments that are simulated Christmas trees. It is desirable to have the outline and the limbs of the green tree lighted and visible and, at the same time, have the colored tree lights normally associated with the decoration of such trees also visible.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The concept of having illuminated signs or ornaments adapted for automobile mounting with power connection to the cigarette lighter attachment of the automobile is known and is illustrated in the patents to Singleton U.S. Pat. No. 5,016.145, to Stratton U.S. Pat. No. 5,803,577, to Brouwer U.S. Pat. No. 5,815,969 and to Hall U.S. Pat. No. 4,860.476. All of the foregoing patents include some type of enclosure for the lighting bulb or bulbs, a power cord with a plug connector and suction cups, adhesive or clip means to secure the device to a window or the body of the automobile. Patents directed to illuminated holiday ornaments for home decoration include Greenberg et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,820,251, Davenport U.S. Pat. No. 5,315,492 and Szczech U.S. Pat. No. 5,396,408. The ornament of the Greenberg patent is a two dimensional representation of a candelabra with light bulbs extending through the two dimensional representation to illuminate the candle and the illustration of the candle flame. The Davenport patent discloses various types of illuminated ornaments including wreaths and candles being battery operated and having suction cups for mounting on a window. The Szczech patent is directed to a suction cup mounted illuminated ornament which is adapted for mounting either on a window facing outwardly through the window or on a wall facing away from the wall.
There are several examples in the prior art of two dimensional illuminated Christmas trees. These include the Huang U.S. Pat. No. 5,993,025 and Sherrard U.S. Pat. No. 4,537,806. Both of these patents disclose a flat illustration of a Christmas tree with holes or grooves provided to receive bulbs which illuminate the two dimensional representation.
The present invention is directed to an illuminated ornament which includes a housing in the form of a representation of a Christmas tree formed of a green translucent material. The housing has substantially flat parallel front and back walls spaced only a few inches apart which adapt it for surface mounting on a vertical window in a car, van or home. The front and back walls are connected by a continuous sidewall with the front and sidewalls contoured to have simulated branches and boughs to create a representation of a Christmas or fir tree
To illuminate the ornament a string of small incandescent light bulbs is mounted in the housing. The string is divided into two distinct sets of bulbs, one being clear and the other being colored. The clear set of bulbs serves to illuminate the tree itself including its outline and the transversely extending rows of bough representations. The clear set of bulbs is mounted within the housing enclosure so that the bulbs cause the housing to provide a green glow in the shape of the Christmas tree. The colored lights are mounted extending through the front wall of the housing so as to be directly visible from in front of the ornament. The portion of the front wall surrounding each of the colored bulbs is formed with a hemispherical depression which serves as a reflector with respect to the light radiating from each of the colored bulbs.
The mounting of the string of bulbs within the housing is accomplished with no clips or fixtures by providing forwardly facing pockets or recesses in the back wall to receive the bases of the bulbs. The bulbs are positioned in these pockets with the outer portions of the bulbs remote from the bases being engaged against the front wall to retain them in fixed position in the housing. The pockets in the back wall which receive the bases of the bulbs are formed by cylindrical walls molded integrally with the back wall. These cylindrical walls have oppositely disposed slots to allow clearance for the electrical wires connected to the base of each of the bulbs.
The front and back walls of the ornament are secured together by overlapping peripheral wall portions on the back wall and the sidewall which are ultrasonically welded together. These overlapping wall portions are formed with upper and lower apertures to receive support hooks connected to suction cups conventionally used for window mounting of decorative ornaments.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved illuminated window mounted ornament in the form of a representation of a Christmas tree.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improved illuminated ornament having two sets of lights, one to illuminate the overall shape of the ornament and the other to illuminate colored spots on the ornament.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an illuminated ornament having the form of a representation of a Christmas tree with a translucent green housing illuminated from within by one set of lights and having a second set of lights extending outside of the housing to be observed directly.
It is still another object of the invention to provide an improved illuminated ornament having two sets of lights for lighting the ornament internally and externally with the lights being mounted by clamping them between parallel front and back walls of a light bulb enclosure.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment is read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings which illustrate such preferred embodiment.